Avestar Capital LLC Invests $219,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 376 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

MSCI stock opened at $604.96 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The stock has a market cap of $47.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.72, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $589.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $544.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.